Speaking before the game, Wenger expressed doubts over City’s capacity to emulate his most famous side and Guardiola told a pre-match news conference that he and the veteran Frenchman are on the same page.

“I would like to say to Arsene that this record belongs to him. We are not going to break him. He has to be calm and sure that is not going to happen.

“It belongs to his team, an exceptional team, because to go through the Premier League unbeaten is something fantastic.

“It belongs to him. He has to know that we don’t want to break this record. We want to play well and beat him on Sunday. That is what we want to do.”